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| Ashley's Photographic yearlist |
Only time will tell!Just been looking at more detailed proposals for housing in my area. Can't deny that some of the housing areas are pretty intrusive, and look like they will lead to queues, either on the roads, in the shops, or for school places. The Whitenap proposal in particular looks huge.
http://www.testvalley.gov.uk/PDF/Plan_PreSub(chapter%2015).pdf
Closer to my home, my heart sank at a proposal for 400 houses north of Hoe Lane, on the western edge of the village. On looking at the more detailed map, I can see why residents are horrified at even more houses being tagged onto the edge of the village, and the strain it is likely to place on the roads, and infrastructure.
There are, however, two bits of potential good news for the local wildlife, or at least, two bits of news that could have been much worse: 1. The Woodland on the edge of the village looks to remain untouched, except for increased access. This woodland has held a Firecrest, and regular Marsh Tits, so good to know there is a chance they will continue to hold decent birdlife. The woodland on the edge of nearby Valley Park seems to have adapted to a housing estate in close proximity. As noted previously, the locals are still getting Tree Pipits, Woodcock and Nightjar within earshot (Although a seperate, completely ridiculous housing proposal has been submitted for Great Covert!)
2. Creation of a woodland park on the edge of the M27.. Assuming this is well designed, then wildlife could benefit from proper management of this woodland which is currently largely birdless coniferous woodland, occasionally torched by youths. I should certainly benefit from being able to explore footpaths as opposed to hacking my way through dense jungle wondering if I am on private land!
Only time will tell! 1:27 PM - Friday, November 21, 2008 - comments {0} - post commentStraight into darknessShort days mean a return to the twilight zone for me!Managed an hour after work this evening, under a fairly spectacular sunset. Buzzardworld had 15 Buzzards, and a stake out at the dog walkers' field provided a few small flocks of Thrushes including both Redwing and Fieldfare, and a whopping 39 Magpies heading to their roost. Best of all, in near total darkness, was 2 Woodcocks low overhead. I was very fortunate as the first whizzed by, as a "probable". Just as I started to curse my luck, the second followed the same path giving superb silhouetted views. 7:30 PM - Thursday, November 20, 2008 - comments {0} - post commentA Weekend to forget!Disappointing weekend as I was too shattered after work on Saturday to do anything.. My birding trip on Sunday morning got cancelled, and I had to cancel a local trip on Sunday afternoon after my daughter swallowed half a packet of Antacid tablets.Did check out Buzzardworld at the West end of Hoe Lane in the afternoon, and counted 13 Buzzards. No Lapwings or anything else of interest there today. Winter has crept up quite quickly the last few weeks, so I should turn my attention to FInch flocks / Pheasant Cover / Owls / New Forest and a trip to the coast for Sea Duck and Divers. 7:33 PM - Sunday, November 16, 2008 - comments {0} - post comment1 Tree Sparrow, and a lot of hassle!Had to sit an exam this morning! so rewarded myself on the way home by stopping off in the Pewsey Downs, for a brief walk along the wansdyke path.Well it was supposed to be brief, but turned out to be a total shambles.. I took the wrong track up into the hills. (OK, I took the one marked "Private Road, no Wheeled vehicles", but thought this was just a deterrent to keep riff-raff out, and couldn't possibly apply to me). At the top, I realised it wasn't the right track (with a car park at the top), so pulled over to ask a Farmer where I had gone wrong. He told me that this road was private, and not for wheeled vehicles, and suggested I should have taken a track that wasn't marked "Private Road, no Wheeled vehicles". This was were it really went pear-shaped: I got back in the hire car, and went to pull away.. Stuck! Up to the Renault Megane equivalent of knees in incredibly sloshy mud. No matter what I tried, either rocking, revving, panicking and flooring it, or trying to push it, the result was the same.. huge wads of mud flying in all directions. The car was stuck fast on the only bit of level ground about an inch from the concrete road. The farmer waited, as if to confirm I was totally knackered, then walked off over the hilltop with his dog! I remembered an old trick from the Negev, when birders would get their cars sanded two or three times a day and get out simply by laying the foot mats under the wheels for grip (Too many revs and the footmats would spectacularly propel themselves 100 yards behind the car!). This car didn't have any footmats, so I tried the parcel shelf. No joy. I tried digging the mud out with my glove, but still no joy. Almost like a mirage, a very luxurious Range Rover then passed by with a fairly attractive blonde lady in. She agreed I was stuck, and proved very resourceful helping me try and rock it out, then offering to push it out with the Range Rover. But we abandoned this idea as it looked like the Range Rover's Registration plate was a going to snap, and I wasn't convinced the huge bumper wasn't going to dent the boot! So she went to get help while I agreed to look for her dogs that had gone missing in the hills. The farmer returned from his walk, and helped me locate the tow point and hook that I needed to screw onto the bumper. Then the rescue party arrived.. another Land Rover, this time with rope, a tow bar, and a driver who knew his knots.. I was out in no time, and promised everyone I would never drive along this road again! You might be thinking there aren't many birds in this blog entry.. There weren't many birds seen up to this point to be honest. The thought of waiting hours for the AA to come and pull me out was a major distraction. The next track was the right one. A sign at the foot of the hill asked for 1UK Pound to use the road or get clamped. After everything that had happened, I paid up! Then I finally saw some birds.. pretty good too, with a solitary Tree Sparrow showing well amongst Chaffinches. My first since moving down south nearly two years ago. The hill summit had plenty of Crows drifting overhead, and a party of Fieldfares flew over without making a sound.. I don't recall ever seeing silent Fieldfares. A few small flocks of Starlings, and a covey of unidentified Partridges was about all I could manage, but the views were superb, and at least I had forgotten about the exam! The Downs around Pewsey are about 300 m above sea level, probably amongst the highest summits in Southern England, and you can drive almost to the top! The area looks brilliant for Vis-Mig, and maybe Ring Ouzel on passage, but birding the area is very time consuming. Time which can be better spent on the coast maybe. If you go there, just watch out for the verges! 8:30 PM - Tuesday, November 11, 2008 - comments {0} - post commentMore Migration along Wood LaneMore signs of migration along Wood Lane this afternoon. Managed a record shot, and was lucky enough to hear the distinctive "Ex-TERRRR-Minoit" contact call, (although I later discovered this was a nearby workman imitating the call). With Brum and Lady Penelope's car, plus a tardis seen recently, my fictional characters list is booming this year! Pity the poor Buggers who received a call this morning to "help deliver an oversized object to TV Centre"
3:05 PM - Friday, November 7, 2008 - comments {0} - post commentA recent near miss!All this talk of America reminded me of a recent near miss I had whilst birding. I've never been to the USA birding, and don't tend to do much twitching these days, so subsequently I don't have much experience of many US Species. However, on finding myself in the Orkneys recently in the face of very strong, very prolonged North West gales, I figured I had a better than usual chance of seeing something of American origin. So amongst other things, every Golden Plover flock was scanned for one with dark underwings. All were pure white as you'd expect, until in one small flock, I saw a dark underwing and axillary just prior to them landing. I soon saw "the bird" on the ground.. It had a fairly obvious white supercilium, and looked "perhaps" more black and white on it's back compared to the European Golden Plovers. However, the wingtips didn't go beyond the tail. So I followed the bird in my scope for about 45 minutes, not really getting any closer to confirming what I was looking at! Eventually, and without any prompting from myself (although in the freezing wind I was tempted to induce this!) the flock took flight to reveal underwings.. all 100% pure white! My initial reaction was unprintable.. I then picked up my tripod and walked away feeling quite gutted. A trick of the light combined with a bird with a slightly more strongly marked head had raised my hopes, and it took 50 minutes in freezing cold to realise I was just looking at my 500th European Golden Plover of the day! However, looking back that evening, I felt quite pleased that despite the initial evidence, the appalling conditions, and the barely contained excitement turning to disappointment, I did (eventually) reach the right conclusion, and left the scene with the correct ID.
I began to realised that many of my "not so good" days in the field were actually not as bad as they could have been! If days are ranked:
Best Day - 1st: Finding something unusual 2nd: Twitching something unusual 3rd: Not seeing anything unusual 4th: Realising you have walked past something unusual without picking up on it! Worst Day - 5th: Getting the ID wrong!
Most of my uneventful / not so good days are a"3", with the odd "4"! (4's" are ok, as they at least prove I was in the right place at the right time, giving myself a chance of finding something good.) Touch wood I haven't had any 5's for many years! Instead, I have a few 99% certainties that aren't on my self found list when they were.. well.. 99% certain!
The experience reminded me of the December 6th 2007, and October 30th 2007 entries of David Sibley's excellent blog:- http://sibleyguides.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2007-12-31T16%3A45%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=20 A really good read! A more recent entry with the "awareness test" is also an eye-opener! 12:31 PM - Wednesday, November 5, 2008 - comments {0} - post commentLong Tailed Tits at the OfficeQuite surprised to see a group of about 10 Long-Tailed Tits outside the BBC building at White City this morning. Certainly not regulars in the area. They were calling and flitting about frantically as they headed along the one row of trees in about 5 miles. One passed extremely close to me, as if it was going to land on me.8:42 PM - Tuesday, November 4, 2008 - comments {0} - post commentJUMP!This was posted on the excellent "George Bristow's Secret Freezer" blog a while back. Think it is only fair to reproduce it on the eve of the US election.. I think you'd have to go a long way to find so many people making complete ar5e5 of themselves in 5 minutes! 8:28 PM - Monday, November 3, 2008 - comments {1} - post commentQuiet morning round Hengistbury, and more local LapwingsOriginally planned to head west this morning, maybe to St.Alban's head, but instead just took a trip to Hengistbury Head. Place was really quiet birdwise with next to nothing overhead in the very mild conditions. on the ground there were only a few common species, and no hint of any migrants apart from a single Redwing, and one of the Robins looked distinctly "Continental".Did hear a very unusual song coming from a wren. Reckon it was "plastic song" from a 1st Winter. It was obviously Wren, but not very good with bits missing! If Hengistbury was anything to go by, St.Albans Head would have been a VERY long walk today! Back in North Baddesley, Buzzardworld today had 92 Lapwings, and a Smattering of Starlings. Buzzards were just about in double figures. 1:19 PM - Sunday, November 2, 2008 - comments {0} - post commentFirst Lapwings drop inA very brief stop at Buzzardworld this evening, to see how many Buzzards are still using the field (numbers have tended to be highest in the evening). There were only 12, suggesting the total has dropped from the previous 20's and 30's being seen. There were however, 5 Lapwings: the first I've seen locally this "Winter"!We get small numbers of Lapwings in fields around the village in Winter and Spring, but I have yet to record Golden Plover, despite it being quite numerous North, South and East of the area! My "Seen from the house" list is missing all Waders. I haven't even managed Lapwings overhead. We do get Woodcock fairly close, and I suspect an evening craning my neck out of the bathroom window in the direction of the woods would eventually get a distant one! Coal Tits are already regular at the garden feeders which is nice, and a female Pheasant dropped in to the ground feeder a couple of mornings ago. 7:31 PM - Wednesday, October 22, 2008 - comments {0} - post commentA local WhinchatHoped to go out and participate in the national Vis-Mig day. Had selected a wild looking, high altitude hill with panaromic views to the north, and set my alarm. However, I just couldn't be bothered to get up, and drive for 50 minutes! so instead had breakfast with the family, and went for a leisurely local visit to the various fields along Hoe Lane.The Dog walkers's field had the pick of the morning's birds with a very pale, but nevertheless, smart looking Whinchat. Only picked it up on the return to the car, so was lucky to see it. Also in the field were 3 Stonechats, a Redwing, a Buzzard over, and a couple of small flocks of Goldfinches, Linnets, and Meadow Pipits. The small woods on the West edge of the village had a couple of Marsh Tits showing well. Some lucky residents must be getting them in their garden, and with luck they may pay me a visit with tit flocks as the weather closes in. The Buzzardworld field still has good numbers of Buzzards with 14 this lunchtime. Maybe an evening count is overdue to get the daily max. Middle section of Hoe Lane was particularly empty today, and Toothill looked quiet except for a family of Mistle Thrushes in a brief stop. Finally the garden had 4 Coal Tits this morning as birds start to return to the newly stocked feeders. 1:34 PM - Sunday, October 19, 2008 - comments {0} - post commentCrossbill over the garden.Nice surprise this lunchtime as a Crossbill passed over the garden calling. Had a suspected Crossbill overhead about a month ago which caught me by surprise, and I couldn't be positive of the ID. This one was a cert.Also a Grey Wagtail in the area calling fairly regularly. Ran the moth trap through the week, and Brick was the only moth species in the morning. 4:16 PM - Saturday, October 18, 2008 - comments {0} - post commenta Long weekend on SandayJust back from a long weekend on Orkney, the Island of Sanday to be precise. Sanday is the next island down from North Ronaldsay, and hopes were high for some quality bird finding. However, the dominant weather system was from the North West, and the tail end of an Atlantic hurricane! With that in mind, the chances of Yellow Browed Warblers, Barred Warblers etc. were much diminished (in fact I only managed 2 Redwings and a single Goldcrest as evidence of Scandinavian influx!), and instead the migrants on offer were Whooper Swans, Barnacle Goose, Snow Bunting, Greenland Wheatear, and best of all a Pectoral Sandpiper found on my last full day on the island. Despite the truely dire weather, views of most birds were excellent, and I renewed acquaintance with many typical scottish species which I hadn't seen for a few years including Black Guillemot, Twite, Hooded Crow. Was very impressed with the sheer volume of birds on the island.. Greylag Goose and Golden Plover must have been well in excess of 1000, closely followed by Starling, Snipe, and Wigeon. Spent a lot of time seawatching but to little avail. A lot of seabirds were passing close by, but I was unable to improve on Red Throated Diver, Fulmar, Gannets, Great Skua, Eider, Kittiwake and Shag. did see a few Black Guillemots on the ferry returning to Kirkwall. Only one bird was foolish enough to come close enough for a photo... Damn that barbed wire!
1:04 PM - Wednesday, October 8, 2008 - comments {0} - post commentA Reed Warbler at WorkI often have the dubious pleasure of working from BBC White City building, in the heart of West London. The building is a pretty big steel / glass structure about 6 storeys high, but in the central courtyard is a split level of gardens which I've always thought: "I wonder if anything turns up in here". Often when the rest of the country is heaving with migrants, I'll take a morning detour via the garden area, which has a patch of heather / alpine about the size of a tennis court, a smaller area of knee high shrubs, and a few scattered bushes, and a couple of Birch trees. Looks good habitat, if only it was 20 times bigger and not enclosed by 100 foot glass walls. Only wildlife I have seen in there up until yesterday was a Blackbird and a Rat!Anyway, returning from the shop Friday afternoon past the garden, I noticed a nearby bush shake, and something dart into cover. Now a sharp eyed, focussed Birder may well have thought "Hmm.. an unstreaked Acro"! but all my meeting-fuddled, caffeine-deprived brain could manage was , "ooh! that looked very brown for a Chiff-Chaff!", and so I plonked myself onto a conveniently placed picnic chair, and sat and waited a while. Didn't take long for the Warbler to re-appear, and it turned out to be a Reed Warbler.. too close for BInoculars, and superb views. Something you probably wouldn't look twice at in a reed bed, (but worthy of a good grilling in the middle of West London (particularly when the alternative was editting a database!). So they can turn up absolutely anywhere, which we all know already! Unfortunately, I won't be back at White City for a week, so probably won't know how long it stayed. 4:21 PM - Saturday, September 20, 2008 - comments {0} - post commentLots of movement, and new arrivalsQuite a few birds seen from the house today.. A steady passage of House Martins flying East in the morning, followed early afternoon by a steady stream heading West!In the distance 3 Buzzards were soaring for much of the morning, and another large Raptor looked subtlely different but was too far away to get anything on. A very distant Raven was slightly easier to i.d. as it soared high up in the sky. Closer to the house, our first Grey Wagtail of the Autumn arrived, and gave us point blank views in the front garden. Also a few Jays are starting to appear looking for acorns, and the trees beyond the back garden were teeming with Blue Tits, Great Tits, a Coal Tit, Nutatch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chaffinch and a Male Blackcap. Very frustrating to see all the reports of East Winds, Wrynecks and Honey Buzzards sweeping the country whilst stuck in work. Feel like doing this on the PC Keyboard!.... (TURN YOUR PC VOLUME DOWN FIRST!) 5:17 PM - Wednesday, September 17, 2008 - comments {1} - post commentGarganey at FarlingtonHad some free time Saturday afternoon, so without any obvious clues from the weather, decided to head for Farlington, and stake out the reed beds at dusk.Afternoon there was pretty tame with 2 Whinchats, a Wheatear, a Peregrine making a fairly easy kill on the salt marsh, and a few Yellow Wagtails heard but not seen. My visit clashed with low tide so Waders were mainly miles out in the bay. Did see plenty of Black Tailed Godwits, and a few Grey Plovers. As the evening drew closer, I settled down on the bank below the horizon, and scanned the freshwater lagoon and reed beds. Was lucky to see a Water Rail skip over a distant Reed bed, crash landing presumably in his roost spot, and a Green Sandpiper dropped in briefly. Best find was a Garganey. Never confident with these in eclipse plumage, but a passing birder checked it out and agreed with me. A bit later another birder told me it looked like a Mallard, which it did, kind of! Well, they are both Ducks, this one was half the size, plus a few additional subtle differences. Even worse this Birder and partner stopped on the horizon chatting to me as dusk rapidly grew nearer, threatening to blow my cover which I'd spent the last hour sitting in wet grass, getting bitten to hell and back to try and become part of the scenery. They did however move on, and I can't blame them for seeing absolutely nothing as light faded! Visited "Buzzard-World" on Friday evening, and only counted 17. Perhaps the rain forced a few of them into the trees, or maybe they are finally starting to move on. 8:45 PM - Sunday, September 14, 2008 - comments {0} - post commentTwo near missesSlightly frustrating today as the best birds seen from the house were both tail end views and unidentifiable!First was a flock of 18 Geese.. Most likely Canada's, but even they would have been an addition to the garden list.. we don't do Waders and Wildfowl from the house! Also caught the back end of a large Raptor, that I'm not convinced was a Buzzard, but views were even worse. Trouble with the Autumn Migration is that I can't see beyond the trees North of the house, all the open sky is to the south. There is a fairly good flyway North / South through the western edge of the village which I'll write about on a quiet day! and it can be good in Spring fromthe upstairs windows. Did see a handful of Hirundines going East to West in the afternoon, House Martins and Swallows. Also this evening's Buzzard flock was 28 again. Managed to view the birds from South of the field but this started to spook the closest ones so won't do that too often. 8:00 PM - Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - comments {0} - post commentHoe Lane Buzzards reach 33Hoe Lane North Baddesley: The big gathering of Buzzards is still there, with 33 at 6pm this evening. A few were much closer to Hoe Lane today, so maybe they had been disturbed from the far end of the field which is out of view. Tried to check from the next footpath along Hoe Lane but frustratingly, the hidden dip was still well out of sight! Might try from Toothill Road, but I suspect you can't even see the field from there. Also checked out the huge Pig farm near Broughton today. Was hoping for maybe Yellow Wagtail, Wheatear, etc., or even Stone Curlew as an outside bet. However, nothing of interest except a huge flock of Rooks and Jackdaws. Thought I heard a Water Rail, then quickly realised it was one of the pigs! 12:39 PM - Monday, September 8, 2008 - comments {0} - post commentGrey Phalarope at KeyhavenWeather looked seriously naff, with a low in from the Atlantic this weekend bringing floods and heavy rain. Decided to brave it and go out, and figured the chances of seeing anything smaller than a Starling were slim! So decided on checking out Waders at Keyhaven, and a seawatch from nearby Hurst "Cut Bridge". Also got there for dawn in the hope of something lurking in the reeds, but no joy on that score.An early walk past a couple of lagoons didn't reveal too much apart from the usual waders. Knot and Whimbrel were the best I could find, plus several Grey Plovers. A Redstart was a good find in the conditions as he zipped across the lane into some trees. The Seawatch was a similar struggle with pretty much empty sea, except for very distant Gannets. Did see two very close Ravens glide past. Tried my best to dodge more rain, and failed. By this time my Waterproof trousers were inundated! So back to Keyhaven.. Plenty of waders to sift through. It was a case of sheltering from the rain, then scanning the waders and moving into the next decent position before packing everything up and sheltering downwind of a bush while the next shower passed through. I say showers.. these were horizontal bucket loads of rain that I often seem to encounter on the south Coast! Eventually struck lucky with a Juv / 1st Winter Grey Phalarope feeding amongst Redshanks and Dunlin. Forgot about the rain avoiding tactics and got another thorough soaking while enjoying watching this pretty little wader feeding frantically in front of me. Texted it onto Birdguides, and recorded some field notes onto my mobile then attempted a digi-scope shot, but the mobile wouldn't play ball. Eventually tore myself away from the Phalarope, a bird I have only ever seen twice before (1994 and 2000! both twitched), and got some small migrants on the way back to the car.. 2 Yellow Wagtails, a White Wagtail, and a Wheatear. Only saw 1 other Birder, and pointed him in the direction of the Phalarope. Listened to this for the entire drive home! 3:38 PM - Saturday, September 6, 2008 - comments {0} - post commentSmall arrival of Pied Wagtails.Days certainly getting shorter, but I do have the chance to quickly scan the turf field near Chilworth on the way home from work most evenings. Was hoping for something to have dropped in after the rain, and it looked like a few Pied Wagtails have arrived. Double figures at least, and one looked like it may have been Alba, but the sun was against me, and it was distant, so it remains a maybe.Only other interest was a Stock Dove. Bad news in that it looks like the grass is starting to grow again, which I suspect will turn it back into a huge birdless expanse. Shocking that these farmers make money instead of leaving optimum birding habitat ;) 10:17 PM - Tuesday, September 2, 2008 - comments {0} - post comment
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Description A photographic year list. Updated as and when I get new or better pictures. If you enjoy them you can see more of my work at Beolens Photography (linked below) Home Beolens Photography User Profile Archives Friends Recent Entries - 9th Feb - Teardrop lakes - 8th Feb 2006 - Waxwings return to MK!! - First update Friends - Hawfinches - petermk - BucksBen |
